


Achilles heel

by TSR



Category: Voltron Legendary Defender
Genre: Healing Pod, Injury, Insecure Lance, Langst, M/M, lance has a crush on lots of people, season two, thirsty lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 03:04:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17296532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TSR/pseuds/TSR
Summary: Exploit the enemy’s weakness. It was a legitimate wartime strategy. One of the best actually and the Galra were not above systematically shutting down their enemies. It had started with the green paladin, infiltrating their perimeter through pilfered Galran technology. It turned out their inquisitive nature wasn’t the weak spot they thought it was. Luckily, Voltron had an Achilles heel.‘He’s easily distracted by female company. Guided by his pride. It shouldn’t be difficult to lead him astray. And if that doesn’t work. It won’t take long to break his resolve.’





	Achilles heel

“Lucky shot.” Was all the praise Keith gave him and Lance felt his head heat with anger. Lucky shot? Lucky shot! That was skill right there. Lance had taken aim and just- fired. It was a thing of beauty. It had felt like time slowed down. Not during the shot. That was a rush of endorphins just like any fight, not sure how things would end. After he watched the control panel fling off in a rush of sparks though, that went super slow. At first, he wasn’t sure if it was going to work. All the excitement of hitting his mark hinged on what would happen next. At first suspended in the moment as he was, Lance didn’t think anything was going to happen at all. Then the bay door lurched and the blue paladin whooped. He could see the Galran commander’s face as it was clear they would be trapped inside and defenceless now that Hunk and Pidge had shut down all their weapons. 

All in all, it was Lance that saved the day by sealing the Garlans in their destroyer with the bomb they’d brought to wipe out the paladins of Voltron during a new alliance ceremony with the Makkakara. Zarkon had convinced the queen to betray her people by allowing a Garlan battleship to dock on her planet and unload a bomb to wipe out both the paladins and quite a few of her own people. Little did she know, Coran hadn’t docked with the rest of their crew. He’d been running maintenance on the ship after a particularly rough fire fight left their defenses down. He’d tracked the Galran ship on their monitors and alerted the paladins who’d found none other than the queen on ship receiving payment for her misdeeds. 

Then it was the usual mad dash for their lions and general firefight up until the moment the cargo hatch opened and Shiro saw the Galran bomb. They’d tried firing on it from their lions but the armor around the thing was impenetrable. They’d need the detonator to get it to backfire on the Galran forces. So tactics changed. Take down the ship. Don’t let them unload the bomb. Only, it was cram packed with druids and drones and all were willing to risk their lives to get the damn bomb delivered. They knew Voltron would have to save the planet. They were counting on it. So Keith and Lance had tumbled out of their lions into the ship bay, trying to find some way to stop this against wave after wave of Galran forces. 

Of course two paladins weren’t enough to take on an entire ship. When they couldn’t come up with an easy way out, Shiro had ordered them back into their lions but as a parting gift while taking heavy fire, Lance had shot out the control panel for the ship’s bay doors. His celebration of the outstanding shot was short lived though when he got caught in the hip by a Galra blaster. He hissed as he rushed back to blue. He grit his teeth as the paladins formed Voltron without fear of the bomb being unloaded in the process. Voltron made quick work of the enemy ship. The sword sliced through the power core easily and a second much larger explosion followed the engines slamming Voltron back and making Lance groan through everyone’s cheers. 

He’d clutched his hip where it hurt. No blood. One of the perks of the blasters: no chance of bleeding out if a laser immediately cauterized the wound. He took a deep breath hitching his hip plate up to conceal his wound and grinned through the pain. “And just look who saved the day! Lance McLain, legendary sharpshooter of Votlron. I’m on FI-AH!”

And that was when Keith said it so fast and easy. “Lucky shot.” Like everything he’d just gone through was nothing. 

“Good work everyone. Makkakara is safe.” Shiro praised warmly. “Now let’s get down there and seal this treaty.”

“That’s it? Come on! Did you see that shot I made? It was amazing.” Lance preened through gritted teeth as he shifted in his seat. 

“That’s enough Lance.” Shiro cut him off. “We still have a job to do.”

“Yeah.” The blue paladin acknowledged, frowning as he went to land his lion. “Let’s go be heroes. Some of us more than others.”

“Sheesh Lance. If you were really such a hero, you wouldn’t get so excited over every single shot you make. It’s like you don’t even think you’ll make the shot when you talk like that.” Pidge shot back and Lance felt a stab of pain from his upper hip. 

“Wow. Coran, think you can fire up a healing pod for me? That kind of stings.” He joked but it wasn’t totally a joke. His injury hurt like no one’s business. It was mostly superficial and he knew he wouldn’t bleed out and die but that didn’t exactly take away the pain. Plus he didn’t want a scar. “I might need to hop into one for a bit when we get back.”

“Quit whining Lance. We’ll go back to the ship once we’re done negotiating this treaty. Don’t even try to weasel your way out of this one.” Keith growled over the communication link. They both knew it was the red paladin that really wished he could skip the social events. People just weren’t Keith’s thing. 

Lance on the other hand lived to play the charming hero. If the paladins didn’t want to hear how awesome his shot was, the locals certainly would. “Who’s whining? I love to shmooze. Bring on the babes. I hope this is one of those cultures where the single girls bring us flowers again for all our hard work.”

“Who cares about flowers? I’m just hoping they hold some kind of banquet in our honor.” Hunk countered. “What do you think Makkakarans eat?”

“Remember guys. We’re not here for rewards. We’re here to make an alliance to help us defeat Zarkon.” Shiro reminded the crew as they all touched down and climbed out of their lions. 

Allura’s voice was clear and commanding through their helmets.”Yes. Paladins. It is time to be on your best behavior. Remember that what Makkakara lacks in militant strength, it makes up for in strategic positioning. Now, let us form this alliance before Zarkon attempts another attack.”

Lance positioned his bayard over his wound hoping his uniform just looked a little singed as he sauntered out of his lion with a broad grin plastered onto his face. “Hello Makkakarans. You are now free of Galran hold!” The blue paladin announced with a flourish. He froze when he was met with anxious murmuring from the natives. 

“Yes, but where is our queen?” A woman, dirty in the old tattered rags of a slave questioned the aliens to her world. 

Lance stared into her big black eyes. She looked pleading and desperate for the queen who had abandoned her and betrayed their people. He couldn’t believe his ears. They had to know the truth. He had to tell them what really happened. “Her? She nearly got us all killed. Your queen was the one that was going to let them plant a bomb here. She was trying to kill us. But don’t worry. I locked her in the ship with the Galra and we took care of them.”

Murmuring erupted in the crowd only growing louder with Lance’s sudden unease. 

“He killed the queen.” 

“The queen… is dead?” 

“What have you done?” 

“Voltron has attacked Makkakara!”

“No! We didn’t- she tried to kill us!” Lance spluttered.

“Lance please.” Allura cut in. “Makkakara! Please listen to me! Zarkon is a master of deception. He even persuaded your queen to harm you. We have saved you from Galran hold-”

“Yeah! I totally took them out so they couldn’t drop a bomb on you.” Lance boasted. “I saved you from them.”

“Lance-” Shiro warned again but it was too late. 

“He’s admitting he killed the queen again!”

“How dare he!”

“Kill the blue paladin!”

“He’s attacked Makkakara!”

“Everyone please! We’ve come looking to spread peace, not a fight. Our only intent was to free you all from Galran reign. Now we wish to make peace. We need allies to help us defend against Zarkon. The Galran empire reaches far but not so far we cannot defeat him. Please, join us in our fight. Together we are strong.” Allura asserted. Her voice rang out proud and clear. Lance was always captivated and moved by her speeches. She could convince anyone to fight for the greater good. 

“Let us talk.” A Makkakaran elder spoke quietly, their shiney husked skin dulled by age to be a waxy brown color rather than the pretty iridescent jeweled tones of the other insectoid people. 

“Of course. We will- return to our ship to rest while you elect a new leader and make your decision.” Allura decided diplomatically. 

“No.” The female from before spoke up clutching her dirty ragged clothes as her antenna quivered. Her dark pupiless eyes seemed to focus in on Lance and the feeling behind that stare made his skin crawl. “You must stay within our banquet hall while we deliberate amongst ourselves. Rest here so we may decide.”

“Yes of course.” Allura bowed her head gracefully as the group excused themselves into the giant hollowed out tree the Makkakarans used for a meeting hall. 

Hunk looked around the nearly bare walls with just a couple of animal skins hung by way of decoration. The place was dismal but they’d been in worse held under Zarkon’s thumb. The Galran empire never seemed to leave people with much. He sighed as he looked over the meager accommodations. “It doesn’t seem like we’ll be getting a banquet after all huh?”

“Sorry about that bud. I’m thinking that may have been uh- my fault.” Lance admitted regretfully. It wasn’t like he regretted what happened to the queen but he hadn’t wanted to create another interplanetary incident. His hand went to the back of his head as he thought about how the people welcomed him back from battle. They’d wanted to kill him for protecting them. An eye for an eye. He swallowed thickly thinking about it. This was dangerous territory where they tread. He might have cost the team the entire alliance with his big mouth. “I’m the one that made the shot that sealed the queen in there with the bomb. I-”

“It was the queen’s fault. We all saw it.” Pidge pointed out to the others. 

“She was the one ready to sacrifice her people to the Galra, not you. We did what had to be done.” Shiro told the blue paladin. 

Lance folded his arms around himself protectively, hissing a bit at the pain in his hip. It was really beginning to smart. He felt terrible, the pain making him more vulnerable. “Yeah but I might have cost us the alliance.” 

“If that is the case, we will do without.” Allura assured. “You are a more vital asset as a paladin than any alliance could be.”

“Yeah?” Lance had to snap himself out of his mood. He felt so uncertain here. Something wasn’t right here and it made him uneasy so he deflected with humor like always. “Why princess, I always knew you were checking out my assets. I just didn’t realize how vital you thought they were until now.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively to the Altean with his most winning smile.

“Give it a rest Lance.” Shiro’s voice was tight like it often was when it concerned Allura. Lance felt a little stab of jealousy at that tone. It was obvious something was going on there that they just hadn’t told the rest of the team yet. Shiro had been getting more and more defensive of the princess lately. Lance couldn’t understand why no one wanted him like that. He bit his lip nearly jumping when the Makkakarans returned with their decision. 

“We will join the alliance.” An elder declared, their exoskeleton dimly catching the light streaming in through the windows of the banquet hall. “We will fight alongside Voltron to defeat the Garla.”

“Yes! Thank you.” Allura clapped her hands together with a broad smile. “This is wonderful news. Let us sign the treaty and make it official.”

“Not quite yet.” The elder’s voice rasped, dull aubergine skin shifting uncertainly as it’s black pupiless eyes turned on Lance. “We have one request. The blue paladin must stand trial for his misdeeds. Only when he has accepted his sentence, will we join you.”

“That wasn’t the deal!” Keith snapped back.

“We’re not giving you Lance!” Pidge agreed heartily.

“Yeah. If you think we’re letting you have our friend, you’re crazy.” Hunk stated resolutely, stepping closer to the blue paladin as if to protect him from the crazy insect people. 

“Hey, no need to fight.” Lance quelled, throwing his arms up and biting back a groan at the pain of his singed skin pulling tight. “I’m really sorry about your queen. We don’t need to do this. I’ll make a public apology or whatever you want. Let’s tie this knot.”

“We want you dead.” The same young female from before spoke up again. Her eyes burned and suddenly Lance thought he recognized that rosey pink hue of her shining skin as someone who had been by the queen’s side. She was one of her confidants. She was some sort of advisor to the late queen. “Will you comply and earn your team a powerful ally or refuse and force our hand?”

Weapons made their way to hands. All the Makkakarans had were spears and bolos. Still, they were ready to fight even as the paladins readied their bayards. “Wait! There has to be another way. We don’t need to fight.”

“We will only accept the blue paladin’s head!” An elder shouted back and the Makkakarans all began to buzz, taking fight on their translucent wings and slashing with their spears, even tossing some. They were mostly pointed at Lance making the latino jump and roll out of the way with a hiss as the skin broke open on his burn. Okay, so that wasn’t good. He started to crawl at first, not entirely sure if he could straighten through the pain to walk. 

He grunted as he felt something on his back when a bolo whizzed over his head nearly taking it clear off. “Lance, get up. We’re leaving.” Shiro ordered gruffly as Lance was lurched up into a standing position. Shiro shoved him forward just to get him moving. Hunk was blasting the wall of the tree, leaving splinters to rickochet and confuse the Makkkakarans. Lance took the opportunity to use the momentum Shiro had given him and stagger out of the tree toward the lions. “Guys. Cover Lance and Allura so they can get to blue.”

“Lance, pick up the pace. We need to get out of here.” Allura urged as she crowded into the blue paladin’s back and helped to press him forward through the pain.

“Get a move on! We can’t hold them off forever!” Keith barked at them and Lance grunted as he misstepped and felt his skin cracking and blood seeping down into his armor. Okay. Not good. Not good at all. He managed a wobbly run, pausing every few steps to shoot behind him. He wasn’t aiming to kill this time. Instead, he was taking Hunk’s cue and creating diversions with broken wheels on fruit carts or by shooting branches off of trees to tumble down onto their attackers. 

“Blue, open up. Let’s run away together princess.” Lance quipped. Taking Allura’s hand, Lance tugged her up into the lion’s mouth before following behind and wincing when a spear crunched in the mechanical jaws. Lance gulped as he clutched Allura’s arm against the pain in his hip. 

“What are you doing? We need to get out of here. Give the others cover!” Allura demanded as she pushed the teenager into the control seat. 

“Don’t worry baby. I got this.” Lance gave the princess a dazzling smirk before he wrapped his hands around the controls. Blue lurched into action, jumping onto a nearby tree and knocking it down as she let out a roar. “Ooh yeah. Come on girl. Let’s shake things up.” Lance shot a plasma blast at a cliff face far enough away that no one would be seriously be hurt but close enough that the rubble disturbed the Makkakarans so they’d turn their attacks more to the armored ship rather than the paladins still trying to make their way to their own. He leaped between Keith and a group advancing on him and shot at the ground in front of them. 

“SHIRO!” Pidge shouted as a group of Makkakarans surrounded her and cut her off from the black paladin. She hooked one with her bayard and knocked a couple back but it was hard fighting when you really weren’t trying to kill anyone. Shiro looked surprised and not all that pleased at the company, baring is teeth as his hand glowed. 

“Don’t worry. I got it!” Lance interjected before either could make another move. He made blue pounce close, scaring most of the Makkakarans away but a few lingered near Pidge. Lance’s fingers twitched on the controls as he made blue run up to scare them off. He didn’t expect a sudden pressure at his shoulder, jerking back in surprise and nearly hitting Allura just for coming too close. “Sorry Allura-”

“Lance! What are you doing?” Pidge yelled, standing up from where’d she’d tackled a Makkakaran to the ground to save them from Lance overstepping. 

“You could have hurt Pidge!” Shiro scolded. 

“I know. I’m sorry. I was- Pidge break right!” Lance shot a plasma blast between the youngest paladin and the Makkakarans just as Keith and Hunk joined the fight in their own lions. 

“I’m sorry lance. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Allura apologized once Shiro and Pidge made it to their lions and the whole group were flying back to the castle of lions. “I should not have disturbed your concentration.”

“It’s okay if you can’t keep your hands off of me. I won’t tell anyone princess. It can be our royal secret.” Lance winked to the woman.

Allura scowled. It wasn’t a very good look on her pretty face. Lance wished just once he could make her blush. She was the only person not off limits around- or was until her and Shiro apparently became a thing. Either way, she was becoming increasingly more annoyed with his flirting. “I’m being serious Lance.”

“Yeah. I know.” Lance winced as he relaxed in the pilot’s seat. He put his hand to his hip and grunted before pulling it away covered with blood.

“You’re- hurt?” Allura gasped just as they made their way into the hanger.

“Nothing the pod can’t handle right?” Lance asked as he stood to disembark the lion. 

Allura, bless her, stayed by his side and helped to support him back into the control room of the castle. He couldn’t help his dopey smile just at the thought that she cared. Allura was literally supporting him with an arm around his chest and her body tucked right under his own arm. He’d never been so close to her before. Maybe- there could be something there if things didn’t work out with her and Shiro.

“What the quiznak are you smiling about? You nearly got Pidge killed!” Keith shouted as he slammed into Lance, knocking him out of Allura’s hold and back against the wall. Lance slouched, wincing as he looked up at Keith since the new position had the unforgiving wall pressed against his wound. “You can’t even once keep your mouth shut can you? You endangered not only yourself but this whole team and-”

“He’s been hurt Keith!” Allura cried out over the hotheaded boy’s rant.

“What?” Keith asked dumbly, looking down into Lance’s wincing face.

“He’s bleeding! Coran- go get a pod ready.” Pidge ordered as she approached the two bickering boys. 

“Oh quiznak! I thought you were joking! I’ll be done faster than a higgork can unfurl it’s dousing tail!” Coran announced as he rushed off. 

“Whatever that means.” Lance groaned shifting under Keith to get more comfortable. 

“You’re hurt? Why didn’t you say anything?” Keith sounded like he was accusing Lance of something. He sounded angry and maybe a little confused. It wasn’t a good combination. 

Lance still faked a little smile clutching Keith’s arms as he pulled himself back up to his full height. “Hey, it was just a laser burn when we were- negotiating…”

“You were hurt when we were meeting with the Makkakarans and you didn’t say anything? What if something would have happened to you? That could have gone much differently and we could have all been at risk because we didn’t know you were injured.” Shiro explained with that tone in his voice that made Lance feel something like he used to in the garrison and he was getting fussed at. It made him feel twelve inches tall. It made him want to prove himself. It made him want to be better but nothing he did ever seemed to be enough. Not for the garrison and not for Shiro either.

“It was okay then. It was all scabbed over already and honestly, I think we’ve all fought with worse before. I know I have.” Lance had come out of a coma to save the day before. This was nothing in comparison. Sure, Pidge didn’t really fight with worse. She’d been incapacitated by a sprained wrist before but they had very different fighting styles. Something like this was bordering on what he’d own up to during battle but he’d been so proud of that shot he’d made. He’d wanted to focus on that. Get that ‘good job Lance’ or maybe a ‘nice shot’ with some finger guns but no one was having it. 

“We knew you were hurt then. We did what we had to but today- you could have fallen back. Things would have gone smoother if you weren’t-“

Shiro stopped himself but probably only because of the destroyed look on the younger man’s face. They all knew what the black paladin had been about to say. Things would have gone smother if Lance wasn’t there dragging the whole team down and screwing things up. Lances eyes darted around the room seeing grave expressions on his friends faces. It was like they were just ticks away from kicking him out of Voltron as a whole. They probably would if he wasn’t bonded with the blue lion. “I-“ he swallowed, only now noticing how close he still was to Keith who was kind of helping support him against the wall until the red paladin abruptly pulled away. “I-“

“Sorry that took so long. The holkenorter was connected to the phyrugian outlets of all things. Come on then Lance. Would you like a hand getting down there?” Coran offered blessedly breaking the tension that had spread over the room with Shiro’s unspoken words. 

“Uh- Yeah. I’ve got this- Woah!” Lance yelped as Keith suddenly scooped him up bridal style with a face that said he’d rather be anywhere but where he was. “Uh- what are you doing?”

“I’m taking you to the pod since you clearly can’t take care of yourself.” Keith grumbled. 

“I can take care of myself!” Lance shouted and squirmed before hissing at the pain it caused in his hip and stilling with gritted teeth. He didn’t know what stung worse, his wound or knowing how the team felt about him. 

As he was put into the pod watching Coran program the healing process through the glass he was overcome with thoughts about how this had all been creeping up on him. Everyone in Voltron had to carry their own weight. As a force of six people against an empire they had to be at the top of their game all the time. They all had to have extra responsibilities. Coran handled all the ship’s care responsibilities and kept both it and the paladins running on a day to day basis. The princess gave them direction and guided their movements against the Galra as she spread diplomacy across the galaxy. Hunk took care of them on a more intangible level. Sure they didn’t need tasty food to survive the war but something about the taste of home held them together and continued to remind them what they were fighting for. Pidge handled all the tech stuff, finding work arounds and solutions to every problem they faced. Keith was there when even her wit was at its end. He’d take on the missions none of the rest of them could, flying head long into danger without any regard for his own safety. Shiro would channel all of that, inspiring them. He was their leader making it all happen even when everything seemed to stack against them which was always. 

Lance hated the cryopods. Not only had they tried to kill him but the feeling of being in one was like a nightmare. He’d brought it up once to the others who only scoffed and pointed out that his special power was ice. Thanks for that Keith. It wasn’t the same though. The cryopods isolated him, making everything go hazy and dark around the edges while the whole world seemed to abruptly turn to ice. Sure it was a swift process but Lance always felt alone. After that one time when it was malfunctioning and slowly freezing him to death, Lance felt the process was terrifying. He wanted to be warm, wrapped up in someone’s arms as he healed. It brought back memories of the first time he’d been put into the pods. A fleeting notion of enjoying Keith holding him when he was hurt that couldn’t possibly be a healthy thought skirted along the outside of his consciousness. It seemed to be the only way to get anyone to care about him though. Sure he was isolated in the pod but he kind of enjoyed the attention in some messed up way. Not like he would ever act on that impulse. Their battles were far too important to get hurt on purpose.


End file.
